Another day another rumour as the media attempt to go for the World record of linking defenders with a summer move to Southampton Football Club.

The latest player to be linked is Sampdoria defender Omar Colley the 27 year old 6ft 3 Gambian central defender who ironically is currently a team mate of Maya Yoshida who is on loan with Sampdoria, in another irony in the one game he has played for the club he replaced Colley who dropped to the bench.

The Italian club signed Colley from Genk in the summer of 2018 for just over £4 million and has been mainly the first choice for Sampdoria since.

But there are several question marks about this deal, firstly there is the players age, he will turn 28 in October and that is usually just a little too old for Saints, as there will be little sell on value if he sees out a four year contract.

Secondly there is the fee, the price quoted is £13 million has he really increased in value over threefold in two years and 42 games in Serie A.

Thirdly there is his style of play, it is best described as uncompromising, he has been booked 9 times in his 21 games this season, he does not appear to be a ball player nor for that matter is he able to play in any other position other than in the centre of defence and Ralph Hasenhuttl prefers players who can adapt .

Therefore I am not quite sure that this rumour is anything more than his agent trying to get his name out into the spotlight and generate interest either for a move or a new deal at Sampdoria.

Certainly Saints need another central defender, it has now been 3 1/2 years since the Van Dijk/ Fonte partnership broke up and since then we have struggled in the centre of defence and it has cost us dearly.

The media are well aware of this and will link us with any name they can come up with, usually because they have been phoned by the agent.

Photo: Action Images

dirk_doone added 10:36 - May 27 You can see why Sampdoria needed Yoshida to replace him. They'd suffered a series of heavy defeats, the last one before he was dropped being a 1-5 home defeat to Fiorentina. But, to be fair to his agent or whoever started the story, we are probably the only Premier League club that would be linked with a 27-year-old player who's valued at just £5 m.
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wibbersda added 12:01 - May 27 Stopped reading when I saw his age. Not gonna happen.
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TimSaint added 12:11 - May 27 At least we are now beginning to be linked to Central Defenders - a position that has needed addressing in every single window for the last 3 years or so !!
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dirk_doone added 15:23 - May 27 And, we've kept on buying them, Tim -Bednarek, Hoedt, Vestergaard, Danso - although, admittedly, not very good ones. The problem is that they are so bad that we can't get rid of them.
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underweststand added 18:21 - May 27 Typical news story bolstered up by the players agent , or some journo on a quiet day. Yes - we MIGHT sign him, but where do all these stories come from? 2 years ago , I listed the players who Saints were " inked with " prior to the Summer transfer window...I lost count ..and patience ..after the first 20. How may of them did we finally sign ..NONE..but any one of them might have been better than those that we did eventually sign, and now we are paying the price.

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